Parison molding and cooling apparatus

Apparatus for cooling plastic articles in an injection molding machine, the injection molding machine including a first mold base, a plurality of mold cavity units fixed to the first mold base, a second mold base, a plurality of mold core units fixed to the second mold base in alignment with the mold cavity units fixed to the first mold base, at least one of the mold bases being reciprocally movable toward and away from the other mold base, the cooling apparatus comprising:

• a support fixed to the first mold base, a plurality of article receiving tubes mounted for movement on the support between a first position aligned with the mold core units and a second position laterally spaced from the first position, an insert situated within each article receiving tube, the insert having an outer surface comprising a plurality of fins for enhancing the cooling capacity of the insert and defining within the article receiving tube a fluid coolant path coupled to a first of a plurality of manifold channels, at least one of the fins being elongated for the purpose of separating an in-flowing stream of fluid coolant from and out-flowing stream of fluid coolant.

Apparatus for cooling plastic articles in an injection molding machine, the injection molding machine including a first mold base, a plurality of mold cavity units fixed to the first mold base, a second mold base, a plurality of mold core units fixed to the second mold base in alignment with the mold cavity units fixed to the first mold base, at least one of the mold bases being reciprocally movable toward and away from the other mold base, the cooling apparatus comprising:

• a support fixed to the first mold base, a plurality of article receiving tubes mounted for movement on the support between a first position aligned with the mold core units and a second position laterally spaced from the first position, a plurality of nozzles fixed to the second mold base in alignment with said second position and adapted to direct cooling fluid on plastic articles held by the receiving tubes when the first and second mold bases are positioned adjacent to each other, an outer shoulder surrounding each of said plurality of nozzles, the outer shoulder being dimensioned to engage a surface of the molded article with sufficient force to permit removal of the article from the corresponding article receiving tube.

Apparatus for cooling molded plastic articles comprising:

• a support adapted to be fixed to a surface of a first mold and to confront a second mold in an injection molding machine, a manifold unit including a plurality of channels, the manifold unit being coupled to the support for lateral movement between a first position and a second position, both the first and second positions confronting the second mold, a set of article receiving tubes fixed to the manifold to project toward the second mold, each receiving tube being coupled to at least one of the plurality of channels within the manifold unit, the manifold channels being adapted to be coupled to a supply of cooling fluid.

Apparatus for injection molding and cooling plastic articles, the apparatus comprising:

• a mold base, a plurality of mold core units fixed to the mold base at a first position, the mold core units defining a portion of said plastic articles, a plurality of nozzles fixed to the mold base at a second position spaced laterally and longitudinally with respect to the first position, the plurality of nozzles being adapted to direct cooling fluid on said plastic articles at said second position, both the first and second positions being within the lateral confines of the mold base.